Tymoshenko claims that Donbas could be returned to Ukraine sooner than Crimea
The Ukrainian presidential candidate and leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, Yulia Tymoshenko, believes that Ukraine can take back the uncontrolled areas of Donbas sooner than the annexed Crimea.
“As for the Donbas, we need to start the right negotiation process in the right format,” she said in an interview with journalist Dmitry Gordon.
The politician promised that in case of her victory in the presidential elections she would organize “Budapest format” negotiations, which would include the presidents of the United States, Ukraine, France, Russia as well as the British Prime Minister. “We want to start “Budapest plus” [talks] and also invite the German Chancellor and, possibly, the high representative of the European Union,” added Tymoshenko.
“Crimea would take a little longer, but it will also be taken back,” she emphasized.
The current president's and pre-election race rival, Petro Poroshenko promise to return Crimea to Ukraine "immediately after the election" Tymoshenko called "a sad deja vu."
“I already remember the completion of the ATO [Donbass military operation] in two weeks, and I recall a million hryvnias insurance for each soldier as well a thousand a day pay for each soldier at the front ... I don’t want to throw words so frivolously,” she said.
According to Tymoshenko, Crimea will be taken back similar to the " unification of Germany." “Having said that, we need to become unprecedentedly successful economically, socially and intellectually,” she added.